In the same way, a workman of even the humblest sort, whose prosperity and regularity of conduct show to his fellow-workmen what industry, temperance, manly tenderness, and superiority to low and sensual temptation can effect, in endearing a home which is bright even amidst the gloom of poverty—­such a man does good as well as the most eloquent writer that ever wrote.  If there were a few patriarchs of the people such as this, their beneficial influence would soon be sensibly felt by society at large.  A life well spent is worth any number of speeches.  For example is a language far more eloquent than words:  it is instruction in action—­wisdom at work.

A man’s daily life is the best test of his moral and social state.  Take two men, for instance, both working at the same trade and earning the same money; yet how different they may be as respects their actual condition.  The one looks a free man; the other a slave.  The one lives in a snug cottage; the other in a mud hovel.  The one has always a decent coat to his back; the other is in rags.  The children of the one are clean, well dressed, and at school; the children of the other are dirty, filthy, and often in the gutter.  The one possesses the ordinary comforts of life, as well as many of its pleasures and conveniences—­perhaps a well-chosen library; the other has few of the comforts of life, certainly no pleasures, enjoyments, nor books.  And yet these two men earn the same wages.  What is the cause of the difference between them?

It is in this.  The one man is intelligent and prudent; the other is the reverse.  The one denies himself for the benefit of his wife, his family, and his home; the other denies himself nothing, but lives under the tyranny of evil habits.  The one is a sober man, and takes pleasure in making his home attractive and his family comfortable; the other cares nothing for his home and family, but spends the greater part of his earnings in the gin-shop or the public-house.  The one man looks up; the other looks down.  The standard of enjoyment of the one is high; and of the other low.  The one man likes books, which instruct and elevate his mind; the other likes drink, which tends to lower and brutalize him.  The one saves his money; the other wastes it.

“I say, mate,” said one workman to another, as they went home one evening from their work, “will you tell me how it is that you contrive to get on? how it is that you manage to feed and clothe your family as you do, and put money in the Penny Bank besides; whilst I, who have as good wages as you, and fewer children, can barely make the ends meet?”

“Well, I will tell you; it only consists in this—­in taking care of the pennies!”

“What!  Is that all, Ransom?”

“Yes, and a good ‘all’ too.  Not one in fifty knows the secret.  For instance, Jack, you don’t.”

“How!  I?  Let’s see how you make that out.”

“Now you have asked my secret, I’ll tell you all about it.  But you must not be offended if I speak plain.  First, I pay nothing for my drink.”